Thursday, June 25, 2009

South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford issued the following statement Wednesday after her husband's (SC Gov. Mark Sanford) admission to an extramarital affair:___

I would like to start by saying I love my husband and I believe I have put forth every effort possible to be the best wife I can be during our almost twenty years of marriage. As well, for the last fifteen years my husband has been fully engaged in public service to the citizens and taxpayers of this state and I have faithfully supported him in those efforts to the best of my ability. I have been and remain proud of his accomplishments and his service to this state.

I personally believe that the greatest legacy I will leave behind in this world is not the job I held on Wall Street, or the campaigns I managed for Mark, or the work I have done as First Lady or even the philanthropic activities in which I have been routinely engaged. Instead, the greatest legacy I will leave in this world is the character of the children I, or we, leave behind. It is for that reason that I deeply regret the recent actions of my husband Mark, and their potential damage to our children.

I believe wholeheartedly in the sanctity, dignity and importance of the institution of marriage. I believe that has been consistently reflected in my actions. When I found out about my husband's infidelity I worked immediately to first seek reconciliation through forgiveness, and then to work diligently to repair our marriage. We reached a point where I felt it was important to look my sons in the eyes and maintain my dignity, self-respect, and my basic sense of right and wrong. I therefore asked my husband to leave two weeks ago.

This trial separation was agreed to with the goal of ultimately strengthening our marriage. During this short separation it was agreed that Mark would not contact us. I kept this separation quiet out of respect of his public office and reputation, and in hopes of keeping our children from just this type of public exposure. Because of this separation, I did not know where he was in the past week.

I believe enduring love is primarily a commitment and an act of will, and for a marriage to be successful, that commitment must be reciprocal. I believe Mark has earned a chance to resurrect our marriage.

Psalm 127 states that sons are a gift from the Lord and children a reward from Him. I will continue to pour my energy into raising our sons to be honorable young men. I remain willing to forgive Mark completely for his indiscretions and to welcome him back, in time, if he continues to work toward reconciliation with a true spirit of humility and repentance.

This is a very painful time for us and I would humbly request now that members of the media respect the privacy of my boys and me as we struggle together to continue on with our lives and as I seek the wisdom of Solomon, the strength and patience of Job and the grace of God in helping to heal my family._____

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

J. I. Packer said, "Certainty about the great issues of the Christian faith and conduct is lacking all along the line.

The outside observer sees us staggering on from gimmick to gimmick and stunt to stunt like so many drunks in a fog, not knowing at all where we are or which way we should be going. Preaching is hazy; heads are muddled; hearts fret; doubts drain strength; uncertainty paralyzes action....

Unlike the first Christians who in three centuries won the Roman world, and those later Christians who pioneered the Reformation, and the Puritan awakening and the Evangelical revival, and the great missionary movement of the last century, we lack certainty.

Why is this? We blame the external pressures of modern secularism, but this is like Eve blaming the serpent.

The real truth is that we have grieved the Spirit... we stand under divine judgment. For two generations our churches have suffered from a famine of hearing the words of the Lord."

Friday, June 19, 2009

Crocodile Dock was a big hit this year at VBS. Our Children's Director, Brooke Hurt, led an enthusiastic team of workers during the week long VBS. Needless to say this was a high energy event as the video shows. Children had fun, ate, played, and gave their lives to Jesus!

Thank you Brooke and all, you are the best!

photography by David and Debi Kerr; videography and video by Jason Kerr

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.

You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.

You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.

You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.

You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.

You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core.

You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others.

You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.

You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America' crowd and deliver this message abroad.

You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.

You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.

You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.

You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world.

You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations.

You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.

You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.

You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.

You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.

You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Relllys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.

You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.

Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.

Lou Pritchett

Note: Lou Pritchett is a former vice president of Procter & Gamble whose career at that company spanned 36 years before his retirement in 1989, and he is the author of the 1995 business book, Stop Paddling & Start Rocking the Boat. Mr. Pritchett confirmed that he was indeed the author of the much-circulated "open letter." “I did write the 'you scare me' letter. I sent it to the NY Times but they never acknowledged or published it.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

The Nike Hypermax NFW features a Tennis Ball felt upper with a White Swoosh, White midsole, and White ankle strap.I may be getting me a pair of these new Nike- they have tennis ball felt on the uppers! Which color should I get - I don't want to be too obvious!

Monday, June 08, 2009

Pastor Mike Cavanaugh had some interesting quotes in a recent class I attended:

Pastoral Significance:

“It’s hard to feel significant as a pastor. We are constantly compared to amazing speakers, incredible entrepreneurs and holy, monkish people who pray more than we can. Our churches are compared to huge churches with massive budgets and incredible bands, and staffs as large as our whole congregations.”

Pastoral Criticism:

“Criticism is one of the things that really hurts. Amazingly, people will criticize their pastor in ways they would not speak of their worst enemy, and feel they have a right to hold an opinion on everything the pastor does. His professional life, his emotional life, the way he dresses, his choice of words, his kids, his personality, the car he drives, the friends he chooses- and the list goes on. It’s easy to feel like you’re a constant disappointment to people, that you are letting people down all the time.”

Pastoral Rejection and Betrayal:

“It’s painful to realize that people leave the church because they don’t like you. That you can invest deeply in a person but that they can still come to the conclusion that they should leave the church because of something they don’t like about you and often they don’t feel the need to even explain. They just stop coming.”

Pastoral Statistics:

-Fifteen to seventeen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout or contention in their churches.-Ninety percent said the hardest thing about ministry is dealing with uncooperative people.-The majority of pastor’s wives surveyed said that the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage and family was the day they entered the ministry.-Only one in ten ministers will actually retire in the ministry.

Is it any wonder some pastors walk off the ‘show’ rather than wait to be ‘voted off the show?’

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

A young man was seated next to his girl in church one Sunday and his intentions were more upon her than upon the message. Leafing through his hymnal till he found what he wanted, he placed it in her lap and pointed to the hymn: "I need thee every hour."She took the hymnal and searched until she found the appropriate hymn to respond: "I’d rather have Jesus."

The song writer wrote:I’d rather have Jesus than silver or goldI’d rather be His than have riches untoldI’d rather have Jesus than houses or landsI’d rather be led by His nail scared hand

Nothing else should even come close to demanding our attention. We need to continue to fix our eyes and hearts on Jesus; He alone is truly the lover of our souls.

A song writer said it this way:"Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful faceAnd the things of earth will grow strangely dimin the light of His glory and grace."

About Me

PONDER-to weigh in the mind, to think about, reflect on.
"He chose his servant David, calling him from the sheep pens. He took David from tending the ewes and lambs and made him the shepherd of Jacob's descendants — God's own people, Israel. He cared for them with a true heart and led them with skillful hands." Ps 78:70-72 NLT